For certain appliance applications, it is desired to connect a waterway tube to a second part, where the second part may be a water source, a water dispensing apparatus, a filtering apparatus, another tube, or other part or assembly. In the past, such connections were often press-fit into the end of the tube. For certain prior applications, connections were overmolded onto the tube using injection molding. Prior overmolded connections extended longitudinally from the end of the tube, such as disclosed by example in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/904,694, filed Nov. 23, 2004; included elastomeric materials, such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,780, issued Jul. 4, 2000; and were overmolded in a curved section such as disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/618,158, filed Nov. 13, 2009. In prior overmolded tube ends, the shape of the overmold provided at least a portion of a core pin or mandrel of an injection mold extending into the end of the tube during overmolding, after which the core pin or mandrel was extracted through the end of the overmolded part after molding. This requirement limited the shape and orientation of the overmolded part to accommodate core pin removal, or required a flexible overmolded material capable of stretching for removal from the core of the injection mold.
Traditional overmolding of a tube requires the tube be placed onto a core pin within the mold. The core pin in the end of the tube provides support to the inside of the tube so that it can be clamped without damaging the tube. The core pin in the tube end also prevents plastic from entering the inside of the tube. Waterways in which the axis of the tube and the axis of the core are co-linear are known formed by inserting a mold core pin into the end of the tube as discussed above. However, there are physical limitations to overmolding onto a tube in a tight radius or angle. The Prior Art teaches that in order to create a typical 90° elbow, acute angle, or obtuse angle overmold, the sweep must be of a radius large enough to allow the core pin in the tube to create an arc that permits the core pin to be retracted. This limits the application of Prior Art to flexible or elastomeric plastics. There remains a need for a process for making an overmolded waterway for rigid and semi-rigid connections extending at an angle from the longitudinal direction of the tube.